STUDIES IN MONGOLISM

Abstract

The clinical picture of mongoloid deficiency is so well known that there is no need to deal with it at length or to enumerate the many isolated findings recorded in the literature. Since Langdon-Down¹in 1866 called attention to the various physical features in idiocy, when he first used the name of "mongolian imbecility," many publications in different languages have been concerned with this disease.²T. Smith, Sutherland, Shuttleworth, Tredgold and Brousseau, in English; Vogt, Weygandt, F. Siegert and Kassowitz, in German; Bourneville, Comby and his pupils, in French, and Cozzolino, in Italian, dealt especially with mongoloid deficiency and laid the foundation of knowledge of this peculiar condition. These papers contain many observations and particular findings, but no real attempt has been made to reach a point of view by which it would be possible to correlate the scattered findings with one cause or a group of causes.